Expert contradicts Sterling Heights cops' version of shooting

A former police investigator contradicted a Sterling Heights police officer by testifying he believes the officer shot a woman from a kitchen, not a living room as claimed.

David Balash, a retired Michigan State Police firearms examiner, testified Friday at the trial of Caroline Hocking-Sullivan, 49, that office Maureen Merpi could not have been in the living room of Hocking-Sullivan’s home due to the combined factors of the bullet’s trajectory, distance of the shooting and location of the bullet’s casing.

Merpi testified earlier that she fired when Hocking-Sullivan charged at her with a butcher knife raised above her head in the living room. Three other officers were in the small home, responding to a suicidal-subject call to her Independence Drive home.

Hocking-Sullivan, who has recovered from a chest wound, is charged with four counts of attempted murder.

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Balash said Merpi fired from the kitchen through the entrance to the living room, testifying:

* Merpi was more than 4 feet away and likely further than that from Hocking-Sullivan when she shot her because no gunpowder was found on Hocking-Sullivan’s shirt.

* The bullet casing ejected from the Glock pistol was found in the kitchen, between the inside wall and a refrigerator about 4 feet from the entrance.

* Hocking-Sullivan was shot at an angle because the bullet exited her side and hit the inside of her left arm.

His testimony undermines Merpi and officers’ claim that Merpi shot at Hocking-Sullivan directly in front of her a few feet away, after Hocking-Sullivan rose from a couch wielding the 8-inch blade.

His opinions support the defense’s contention that Merpi accidentally or too quickly fired the shot, that her life was not in dangerand the other officers at the scene.

Balash also inferred an accidental discharge, testifying that Merpi’s weapon, a Glock, in his experience has had the most accidental firings of any police weapon, and isn’t equipped with a “safety.”

Hocking-Sullivan’s attorney, Tim Barkovic, said his client should never have been charged.

Her trial is scheduled to conclude Tuesday in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens, with Hocking-Sullivan expected to take the stand followed by closing arguments.

Balash agreed under Fox’s questioning the possible reason Hocking-Sullivan was shot at an angle was because her body may have been turning in reaction to also being hit by a taser fired by another officer.

Or, he agreed, Merpi’s wrist may have moved, causing her to fire at an angle.

Fox contended the bullet casing being found in the kitchen doesn’t mean Merpi was in the kitchen. He tried to discredit Balash’s testing of the bullet ejections from Merpi’s gun, saying they weren’t exact and fail to contradict Merpi’s testimony that she was in the living room when she fired.Tossing a casing onto the courtroom floor several times, Fox tried to show it can bounce several feet in unpredictable directions.

He noted the casing also could easily have been kicked by any one of more than a half-dozen people at the scene, including paramedics responding to help Hocking-Sullivan.

Under questioning, Balash conceded that the Glock “is one of the most popular police weapons.”

He agreed with Fox that if a suspect was charging at him with a knife raised above her head, “I would shoot several times.”

He said he was surprised none of the officers fired their weapons, although one officer fired the taser and officer Thaddeus Kalinowski testified that he would have fired his gun but didn’t because Merpi stood in front of him.

Balash also criticized the handling of evidence at the scene because the knife could have been contaminated; it was found in the kitchen sink, and taser wires were found in a dog dish in the kitchen.

Fox, however, pointed out that one officer at the scene testified he placed the knife on the dishwasher in the kitchen. It is believed a paramedic or firefighter put it in the sink.

Merpi’s actions were supported by Sterling Heights police following an internal investigation.

Balash in 2010 consulted with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office into the investigation into the death of David Widlak, 62, the CEO of Mount Clemens-based Community Central Bank whose body was found with a bullet wound in water along the Harrison Township lakeshore.

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My beat is the courts of Macomb County and general assignment.
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